Addison Trail softball team embarks on fun southern Illinois road trip.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
The Addison Trail softball team brought back a fun spring break story to tell.
The Blazers embarked on an eventful spring-break trip to southern Illinois that ended up being loaded with activity on and off the field.
The Blazers started out the trip with a win against Springfield Lanphier High School.
The Blazers were then rained out in a Saturday doubleheader at Mascoutah. Sunday was spent sightseeing in St. Louis.
The Monday of spring break saw Addison Trail practice at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.
“They have an unbelievable softball facility there,” said Olson. “They have an indoor only softball facility that is connected to their stadium. It’s fantastic and the school was super-accommodating.”
Addison Trail also was rained out in a doubleheader against Roxana.
The team ended up back in the Springfield area where it took a tour of the state capitol in Springfield and met with Illinois Senator Tom Cullerton, who is based out of Villa Park (23rd district).
The team then dropped a game to downstate Morton (not to be confused with the Morton that plays in Addison Trail’s division of the West Suburban Conference).
“We took it on the chin against Morton,” said Olson. “I think we ran out of steam.”
Olson said the entire trip, despite a lack of games, was a major success. In one instance, they came across a bunch of really brilliant properties, which got the group discussing whether they could buy the property on a timeshare agreement for any future trips. Doing some research told them how risky that option can be though, after reading multiple people’s experiences where they had to contact a timeshare exit team to help them get out their agreements. So that idea that had sprung out so beautifully had to be put back into a box.
“It turned into a Springfield trip,” he said. “Nonetheless, it paid off. It was great for team chemistry and team bonding. The girls had a great time. We always have plans B and C in place in case of the weather. We wish the weather was better, but there still was a lot of moving around. We made sure there was not a lot of dead time. St. Louis is a great city. We had some warmer weather but we couldn’t catch a break with the rain. The other schools were great. We went out to dinner with the girls from Lanphier and Morton had a beautiful facility.”
Olson has been pleased with a variety of things in the early part of the season. “I love the attitude and the effort,” he said. “We have no shortage of effort and good approach. We only lost three girls from last year, so we have quite a few back. We started two freshmen last year, so we’re still pretty young. We have a lot of juniors and sophomores and we have a nice senior class.”
Addison Trail has been playing without the likes of multi-sport athlete Nicci Scorza and outfielder Katie Lacni.
Olson lauded the recent play of Vincenza Zaccaro, Alyssa Pham, Jessica Bach, Marie Baumgartner, Sophia Hawkins, Ally Pohlad, Valentia Pentrelli, Gianna Fugarino and Giana Trippiedi.
“Vincenza has been ripping the heck out of the ball,” he said. “Alyssa was hurt most of last year and has come back and is really striking the ball. Jessica is a senior captain and has quietly been there three years at third base. There’s been a couple games over the years where she hasn’t been there because of something like an AP test and we missed her. You realize how valuable her leadership is.
“Marie is a four-year player. Sophia and Ally were with us as freshmen, so that was kind of a baptism by fire. Valentina is a freshman who is splitting time at first with Gianna Fugarino. And Gianna Trippiedi is helping us at catcher. There are a lot of familiar faces who are growing on the field from last year to this year. The good thing is we were able to hit the ground running at the start of practice.”
Just after returning from the trip, the Blazers dropped a 9-8 non-conference game to Rolling Meadows.
“The weather has not been a champion of softball so far this season,” said Olson, echoing what all area outdoor sports coaches have been saying in regards to lack of outdoor practice time and game availability of late due to the rough weather.
The Blazers were scheduled to play Larkin, Niles West and Proviso West this week in non-conference games.
